Epiphany
by Loselen Snowstar
Summary: Set right after "Terra" Terra gets some sense knocked into her, and returns the favor. Please read.


What happened to Terra right after the episode "Terra"? It was nagging me, so I wrote it.  
  
~~~~~  
  
Terra finally stopped running. Not because she didn't still want to run, but because she was too tired. She panted resting her hands on her knees.  
  
She was back in the desert. There was nobody here, so she couldn't hurt anybody.  
  
"I'll find a place far away from people and just let it go," she thought, "and then I'll start from there."  
  
Terra looked back. She could just barely see the top of Titans Tower. Not far enough.  
  
She began walking again.  
  
It wasn't until almost two hours later that she stopped again. It was beginning to get light, and she was exhausted.  
  
She sat down next to a boulder and almost instantly fell asleep.  
  
***  
  
Terra woke up around noon to the sound of someone speaking.  
  
"It must be around here somewhere."  
  
Terra stood up and stretched. Sleeping on the ground wasn't the most comfortable place. She was really sore.  
  
"Did you lose something?" she asked.  
  
The other girl jumped, but quickly recovered, "Yes, actually," she said with a grin, "I lost my mind somewhere around here yesterday. You wouldn't have happened to have found it, would you?"  
  
Terra didn't know how to respond, "Er..."  
  
"Just kidding," she laughed, "I lost a charm off my bracelet cause I was too lazy to get the jump ring soldiered. By the way, I'm Claire. Who are you?"  
  
"Terra."  
  
"Nice to meet you," Claire shook hands with Terra. She grabbed at water bottle out of her bag, "Want some? You look thirsty."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
"So," Claire started, "What're you doing out in the desert?"  
  
"Going somewhere."  
  
"Where?"  
  
"Dunno. Where the wind takes me, I guess."  
  
Claire sat down on a rock, "I'm out here to get away from my family for a bit... My friends too."  
  
"Why? Did you run away or something?"  
  
"No," Claire shook her head, "Nothing so dramatic. I had a fight with my mom. I told her I needed to get away for a bit, so we found a tent in the garage, and here I am."  
  
"Your mom's letting you?" Terra asked.  
  
"Yeah," Claire shrugged, "Everyone needs a break from people sometimes. Even ones they like. My friends drive me crazy."  
  
"How?"  
  
"I always end up being the psychiatrist for my group. They ask me for advice on everything. Even on things I have no clue about. Amy was asking me for relationship help just a bit ago. All I know about boyfriend stuff comes from sappy romance novels."  
  
Terra laughed, "And those are nothing like real life."  
  
"Yeah. No wonder my suggestion didn't go over too well," Claire grinned, "So, what about you? Where do you come from?"  
  
"Nowhere."  
  
"Oh. Okay. It's getting hot out here. You wanna come back to my camp? I've got food."  
  
"Sure!"  
  
They arrived at Claire's camp a few minutes later. The hike had been mostly downhill. The camp was nothing really special, just a tent, fire pit and a cooler. The tent was nestled in a corner of the canyon, in the shade. The cooler was next to it. The fire pit was farther away, in the sun.  
  
Claire walked over to the cooler and opened it, "I got mostly stuff I took from the kitchen and mom's garden. Let's see... Celery, tomatoes, bag of stale Halloween candy, potato chips, apples-Macintosh, the good kind" she took a bite out of one, "bread and... Ewww! Some cheese you'd have to be very brave to eat. Guess I didn't shut this right."  
  
Claire tossed an apple in Terra's direction, "Here!"  
  
Terra took a bite of the apple as Claire disappeared into the tent.  
  
Claire was pretty nice, Terra thought. She had a brisk, down to Earth, matter-o-fact air about her.  
  
Flash! Terra covered her eyes as Claire took a picture of her.  
  
"Ah!" Terra yelled, "Why didn't you warn me you were gonna do that?"  
  
"Sorry," Claire said, "But people tend to look better in pictures if they don't know they're having one taken."  
  
"Why do you want a picture of me?"  
  
"I take pictures of everyone and everything. I want to be a photographer when I get older."  
  
"I don't think they make much money."  
  
"That's why I'm going to win the lottery!" Claire replied, "You mind if I put on my music?"  
  
Terra shrugged, "It's your campsite."  
  
"Okay, then! One 'Road Rage' CD coming up!"  
  
***  
  
Terra wasn't exactly sure how it had happened, but she was having an argument with Claire over which show was worse, SD Gundam or Pokemon.  
  
"No, Pokemon isn't as bad as SD Gundam," Terra said, "Pokemon might have been a good show if it had a plot. SD Gundam is, well, chibi gundams! There's something just fundamentally wrong about chibi gundams!"  
  
Claire shrugged, "You have a point. I still say Pokemon is worse, though."  
  
"You know, it's sorta funny that we're arguing over disturbing TV shows."  
  
"Yeah," Claire leaned back, propping herself up on her elbows, "This is the life. It's quiet, there's at least one good photo op everywhere you look, nobody is around to stare at me if I sing weird songs loudly and off key, and my mom isn't here to piss me off."  
  
"And we all know how important that is."  
  
"I'm never going home," Claire said with a tone of someone just deciding on something big, "Never."  
  
"Y'know," Terra said quietly, almost to herself, "If I had a home to go to, I wouldn't ever want to leave."  
  
"You don't have a home?"  
  
"I can't have one."  
  
"Well why on Earth not?"  
  
"People don't want me around."  
  
"Now that's just stupid!" Claire exclaimed, "You're telling me that not one person would like to have you around? I can prove you wrong right now. I'd like you around. It'd be cool if you moved to my neighborhood. You fit in well with me and my friends."  
  
"You don't understand."  
  
"No, I don't. WHY don't you think people want you around?"  
  
"I'm dangerous," Terra replied. She didn't feel like going into details.  
  
"Well, hell," Claire snorted, "Everyone's dangerous sometimes. I'm dangerous sometimes. You wouldn't expect me to be dangerous. I'm just your average, somewhat overweight, weirdo-loser-freak of a fourteen year old."  
  
Terra said nothing.  
  
"Have a little more faith in people," Claire continued, "You might be surprised."  
  
"As if you're one to talk," Terra rolled her eyes.  
  
"What do you mean?" Claire asked.  
  
"Basically, what you're doing is deciding to live the rest of your life here because you had a fight with your mom. That doesn't sound like you have much faith in people. Well, not your mom at any rate."  
  
For the first time in the four hours since they had met, Claire had nothing to say.  
  
There were a few moments of silence. Terra noticed a tarantula crawling across the ground. She would have pointed it out, but she wanted what she said to sink in, and mentioning it would be an easy subject change.  
  
"You're right," Claire whispered, "I'm a hypocrite."  
  
"I wouldn't go that far."  
  
"I should go home," Clair stood up, "In fact, I will. First thing tomorrow, I'm going to pack up my stuff and go home."  
  
"Why wait 'til tomorrow?"  
  
Claire blinked, "I-I don't know. I guess it's sort of stupid to wait. Maybe I should go now..."  
  
Terra stood up, "I guess I should go too."  
  
"Hey," Claire called, "Not so fast."  
  
Terra turned back, "What?"  
  
Claire extended a hand, "Thank you. You knocked some sense into me. I needed it."  
  
"I think I needed some sense knocked into me, too," Terra replied, "I guess I was just returning the favor."  
  
"Hey, maybe I'll see you again sometime."  
  
"Maybe. Goodbye! I'll see you when I see you."  
  
Terra left the way she had come. It was harder going uphill. She thought about what Claire had said about having faith in people. Maybe she should go back. No. Claire was probably right, but for Terra, the world needed to turn a few more times before she would be ready.  
  
Hopefully, by then it would have turned enough times for them, too.  
  
~~~~~  
  
Whoo! This is the longest one shot I've ever written. I hope you think it's good. 


End file.
